UCL: Sparta head to Monaco making amends for racist chants

Sparta Prague made amends on Monday for racist chants from their fans targeting AS Monaco players during a Champions League game last week as they brace for the second leg trailing 2-0.

Ahead of Tuesday’s Champions League third qualifying round return at Monaco, Sparta also said they had identified the culprits and vowed to ban them.

“We are deeply saddened by the incident that occurred during the game last week,” Sparta said in a letter to AS Monaco and midfielder Aurelien Tchouameni, published on its website.

The Frenchman was targeted by monkey chants as he scored the first goal on 37 minutes in Prague last week, and the game was briefly held up before Monaco players decided to play on.

The incident led Uefa to start disciplinary proceedings against Sparta over “discriminatory behaviour, injurious chanting and the throwing of objects at the player”.

Uefa has yet to announce its verdict.

“Thanks to the CCTV recordings and TV recordings the persons involved in the incident have already been identified by the club, are under the investigation procedure and will be banned from all AC Sparta Prague matches,” Sparta said.

“The investigation procedure will be finalised in a short time.”

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Sparta also vowed “zero tolerance of any kind of discriminatory behaviour.”

Under Uefa rules, no fans of visiting teams will be allowed to attend the third qualifying round games.

Last week, the Czech League Football Association slapped a fine on Sparta and threatened to close its stadium following racist chants from Sparta fans targeting French defender Florent Poulolo during a Czech league game.